Saturday, January 8, 2011

Lemon Explosion Cupcakes

Lemon lovers unite! These are the lemony-ist cupcakes I have ever experienced. If you're a tart die-hard you will beyond love these. If you like lemon but you're not ready to marry it, I'd recommend doing a plain cream cheese icing instead of the lemon cream cheese icing. The cake is more of a pound cake/sponge cake situation. I've noticed that adding lemon juice lends to a stiffer cake than regular white cake. The lemon custard is amazingly delicious. I had tons of egg yolks leftover from a macaron extravaganza so this was the perfect follow-up recipe. Here are my pics:

Cake:Preheat to 325F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and lemon zest until fragrant. Add the butter and cream cheese. beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add lemon juice, beating until just incorporated. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely.

Custard:Combine all ingredients except the butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium high heat, whisking constantly for 8-10 minutes until custard has thickened. Remove from heat and add butter, 1 piece at a time, stirring until fully incorporated. Strain through fine mesh strainer and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, covered.